


What is One More Rule Broken?

by I_Write_Sins_and_Tragedies



Series: By The King's Side You Belong [1]
Category: Fate/Grand Order, fate - Fandom
Genre: Fix-It-Fic, In which I play fast and loose with the rules, Other, Post-Babylonia fic, Will be Enkidu/Gil later in the series, past major character death, pertaining to a clay corpse and a supposedly shattered soul
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:47:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25406389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Write_Sins_and_Tragedies/pseuds/I_Write_Sins_and_Tragedies
Summary: The souls of the dead were, unequivocally, under Ereshkigal's protection. It did not matter who or what it was that the body belonged to in life; once death claimed the spirit, it was within her control. And that was why she, though a young goddess compared to those ancient primordial beings, yet affirmed in her authority over Kur, refused to allow any harm to come to the clay doll Enkidu's soul upon their death.
Series: By The King's Side You Belong [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1840099
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	What is One More Rule Broken?

**Author's Note:**

> There are't nearly enough fix-it fics and Gilkidu in this fandom. So I'm gonna make some >:l

The souls of the dead were, unequivocally, under Ereshkigal's protection. It did not matter who or what it was that the body belonged to in life; once death claimed the spirit, it was within her control. And that was why she, though a young goddess compared to those ancient primordial beings, yet affirmed in her authority over Kur, refused to allow any harm to come to the clay doll Enkidu's soul upon their death.

No matter how powerful, how old the deity; no matter how many or how few demanded it, she remained steadfast in her resolve. And thus, Enkidu's soul lay at rest near their body, peaceful for the tens of hundreds of thousands of years they were meant to stay. The gods' protests and complaints faded away quickly, no longer caring to press the issue. The clay doll, the king-tamer whose given task was only successful in death, had served their purpose. To destroy them in their entirety was merely a spiteful act, unnecessary, and so abandoned when it proved unfeasible.

The soul was not there, when Ereshkigal realized that Enkidu's body had been stolen away. And for a moment, she mourned, because surely it had been lost as well. No soul could escape her cages after all, and whatever force had been powerful enough to violate a resting place within her realm, without her notice, may well have done away with them. Really, it made her a little bit furious, but she turned that fury into fuel to continue her campaign against Uruk.

She did not think much of it, when she heard of Kingu. That they made use of a body that did not belong to them was aggravating, and disrespectful in a way that she, as a goddess of Kur, uniquely despised. But that was thrust upon them by another, and so she would not resent them for the circumstances of their creation. It was simple, really; when the time came for her to face Gorgon and her 'child', she would reclaim that which was stolen.

Of course, that was not what happened. Not even close. Ereshkigal never could have foreseen the series of events that overtook her careful plans, or the chaos that ensued. For how she had once defied the greater gods in another time, it was so much more difficult, so much more terrifying to do so as she did with the Beast Tiamat. So difficult a battle it was, so draining, that her rest afterwards could almost be akin to death.

A goddess of Kur dying, however, was utterly ridiculous. All it was was a nap, really. A once in an eternity occasion, that left her even more swamped once she stirred. Even with a fraction of Uruk's people reviving, the number that had died was staggering. It left her in a scramble to get everything squared away again, on par with the effort it had taken to move Kur underneath Gilgamesh's prized city. From the deepest heart of the underworld, to the farthest reaches, she had to tend to it all.

It was only natural, then, that she noticed them.

That Enkidu's body had returned to its place was a miracle and a relief in and of itself.

That their soul had returned, weary but bright as ever, to the cage it had made a home in long ago, was mind-boggling.

"What the-?" Ereshkigal blinked, and then frowned in utter bafflement as she drifted to the cage. "Enkidu...? How the heck did you...?"

They had survived. They had persisted. And the remnants of their spiritual energy, though cold and faint, still lingered like a fine mist about their body.

Ereshkigal stared. She laughed. She wiped away moisture from her eyes that was surely only born of humor, for what else could this emotion that tightened her rib cage be?

"You really are a stubborn person, you know that?" She asked, with a smile all too tender to belong upon such cold lips. Her hands slipped between the bars of the cage, cradling the soul that seemed to flicker in agreement. "I'm sure you helped us out a lot. You and Kingu both."

Ereshkigal couldn't speak with the souls under her care, not truly, but she had grown to understand the silent cues they took to. The smaller wavering of a soul's edges, the way it seemed to fold in on itself. Of course, she could only guess at the meanings behind such gestures, based off of what she knew of the person in question. What Enkidu's soul showed could be denial, could be bashfulness, could be sadness. Or it could be they had nothing to comment on about the whole debacle. Whatever it was, it only made the feeling in the goddess' chest grow.

"...You know...I've really gotten into a bad habit of breaking the rules of my Authority lately. It's a real pain! A goddess shouldn't feel so tired in her own domain like this." She drew in a deep breath only for the sake of sighing it out, and fixed the curiously dancing soul before her with a playfully conspiratorial smile. "So, you know, what's one more violation at this point? I'm sure the other gods won't mind it too much. I mean, they're about to be separated from humanity completely, so it really won't be much of their business anyway."

The soul expanded and rippled, voiceless curiosity that Ereshkigal could recognize in a too-short heartbeat, and she giggled. She was a cold, cold person, on the inside and out. But it felt like there was a warmth in her aching chest, as she withdrew her hands only to open the door to the cage. Enkidu did not rush to escape; they did not try at all. Nor did they resist her, when she cradled their essence in her hands and guided it into the open.

No matter how they died, Enkidu's body always returned in one piece. Crumbled into mud and clay under the weight of a divine curse, or burned up in the glory of a goddess' restraint, it lay now in perfect condition upon a bed of stone. So pristine that they could be sleeping, were it not for the total stillness of their being.

Ereshkigal had seen many a corpse, in her eternity within Kur. But she had never seen a corpse flush with the color of life, or heave in a shuddering breath that was so natural, so _alive_. Enkidu's eyes fluttered open, unfocused upon the sky of nothingness far above. The final wisps of their soul as it burned its way into their chest provided glimmers of light to reflect off their face for a scant moment longer, until at last spirit and body were fully remerged once more.

As though in a daze, their head turned, one way and then another, until at last their blue eyes lit upon red.

"Eresh...kigal?"

"Hey, hey, is this any time to be sleepy? Humanity is departing from the gods pretty soon, you know. If you don't hurry, Kur will separate from Earth and you'll really be stuck here." Ereshkigal smiled, placing her hands upon her hips as she watched Enkidu slowly sitting up. They brought a hand to their head, dizzy in a way that Ereshkigal could only imagine came with the vertigo of resurrection.

"You mean to say that I can leave...? Doesn't that violate the rules of your Authority?" They peered up at her, calmly baffled by the predicament they had found themself in. As for Ereshkigal, she could feel all of the warmth in her chest rapidly making its way up to her cheeks, and she spun away quickly.

"Geez, didn't you hear a word I said? I've already broken those rules plenty lately. It's really no big deal if I do it one more time, okay?" She waved a hand dismissively, as though to fan away any further questioning. When the ensuing silence stretched on a little too long to be bearable, she looked over her shoulder with a frown, finding Enkidu staring right back. "What is it? I'm giving you a once in a million lifetimes deal here, you know."

"Yes, I appreciate that... But is it really wise for me to take up your offer? After all, the gods have already condemned me once... It would just be cruel to leave this place, only to return the same way again."

"You really aren't listening to me, are you?" Ereshkigal asked flatly, leveling Enkidu with an unimpressed frown. She spun back around, raising one finger to point at them in tandem with her raising voice. "The Age of Gods is coming to an end! Even if they did have the influence to curse you, they probably won't bother anymore. Ishtar left that silly grudge behind a while ago, and the rest of them are pretty spectacularly uninterested in what's going on lately. This is your one free pass. Your only one, you hear?! You may as well take advantage of it while you can and get up there."

The silence that followed those words lasted for only a few moments, but they felt like small forevers for the heated goddess. She dropped her hand back to her hip, leaning forwards with a glare that dared Enkidu to argue. They blinked once, slowly, releasing a soft sound that she couldn't make heads or tails of, until...

"Ereshkigal. Thank you." They smiled, and for a moment, the warmth returned to her chest and cheeks in equal measure.

"Don't- don't mention it. Now hurry up, will you? At this rate, Kur will break off from the human world in a matter of days."

With a gracious dip of their head, Enkidu slid to their feet. Their smile remained, steadfast in the face of their unexpected savior's flusterment, and they rested a hand to their chest as they offered her a single shallow bow.

"I'll be off, then. Take care, goddess of death."

"Y-yeah." Ereshkigal mumbled to Enkidu's back, staring after them from the corner of her eye. "You too."


End file.
